Boggie Dog Suspended...and Other War Crimes and Atrocities

I hope reform comes and comes quickly. Part of that reform would be taking government employees out of the screening role. Airplanes and airports don't belong to the federal government. This property should be secured by its owners. The advantage, or disadvantage in the case of travelers, would be that no issue of constitutional issues would remain. The airlines could use any form of screening they desire up to the point of loosing customers. I can see government used for intelligence information being passed down but nothing more.

I can't speak intelligently on them because all I have is a list of peoples complaints. To speak out of turn on that would be stupid in the extreme. If complaints are lodged and found viable, then there should be appropriate action by the agency. Anything else is speaking without the whole set of facts.

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How convenient.

I get it -- all those people just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. They had nothing better to do, so they decided, "what the (expletive deleted), I'll just make (expletive deleted) up." Sorta like why I have spent the past two years assiduously compiling evidence -- er, I mean, unverifiable stories. Because I have nothing better to do either. I just like to make (expletive deleted) up.

ON MONDAY, THE I-TEAM UNCOVERED CHARGES OF SERIOUS SECURITY LAPSES THERE AND NOW, WE'RE HEARING ABOUT SOME DISTURBING INCIDENTS RELATED TO PASSENGER SCREENING. ​

ANDREA MCCARREN JOINS US WITH MORE ON THE STORY.​

Andrea McCarren on-set:​

IN TSA JARGON, THEY'RE CALLED PRIVATE SCREENINGS. THAT'S WHEN A PASSENGER WHO SETS OFF AN ALARM IS TAKEN TO ANOTHER LOCATION AND CHECKED MORE THOROUGHLY FOR WEAPONS OR EXPLOSIVES. ​

BUT WE'VE NOW LEARNED ABOUT SOME PRIVATE SCREENINGS THAT APPARENTLY WENT TOO FAR.​

Story:​

TSA Employee: "I couldn't imagine my sister or my mother going through that process. I was so upset." ​

AGAIN AND AGAIN, TSA EMPLOYEES AT REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT -INCLUDING SUPERVISORS-TOLD US THAT PASSENGERS WERE ASKED TO REMOVE THEIR CLOTHING AND EXPOSE THEIR PRIVATE PARTS DURING SECURITY SCREENINGS…A CLEAR VIOLATION OF TSA'S OWN INTERNAL GUIDELINES… OBTAINED BY THE I-TEAM. ​

TSA Employee: "The look on their face would almost give you the sense that they felt like they were in a sense being raped. In a sense, being victimized and to a certain extent, they were. "​

TSA Employee: "That really incensed me that someone felt that they could just put on some gloves and they could just violate someone to that degree." ​

TSA Employee: "They actually had the passenger remove the clothing that covered the sensitive area and perform a duck walk to see if something would fall out." ​

IN FACT, SOME OF THOSE SO-CALLED PRIVATE SCREENINGS WERE ALLEGEDLY CONDUCTED IN A VERY PUBLIC PLACE: THIS STAIRWELL…ACCESSIBLE TO OTHER PASSENGERS AND AIRPORT EMPLOYEES. ​

TSA Employee: "The private screenings were conducted right in that stairwell"​

Andrea McCarren: Isn't that an inappropriate place to be searched? ​

TSA Employee: "That's a very inappropriate place to be searched."​

TSA EMPLOYEES SAY AFTER THEY COMPLAINED, THE SCREENINGS WERE MOVED INTO THIS MANAGERS' OFFICE… WHERE THEY ALLEGE, UNSUSPECTING PASSENGERS WERE EITHER VIDEOTAPED OR MONITORED ON CLOSED CIRCUIT TELEVISION. ​

...​

IN FACT, SHE SAYS SOME SCREENERS EVEN -INTENTIONALLY- SET OFF MAGNETOMETERS BY KICKING THEM. ​

I understand what you're saying. There's a distinct possibility that these 3 little old ladies were abused by single deranged screener or an unfortunate pairing of 2 or more dysfunctional screeners. The outlandish statements of the TSA's propaganda machine only add insult to injury when these incidents occur. I maintain that the TSA's current policies attract and retain sociopaths and sadists in proportions greater than exists in the general population. Policy makers have made serious errors in the way the TSA was created, it's "mandate" was executed and the agency has been allowed to ride roughshod over the Rule of Law. These errors are not yours.

I sincerely hope that the TSA can be reformed without harming its vast workforce, the majority of whom do not deserve to be unemployed.

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Not to worry -- WalMart & McDonalds are hiring, and there's a tomato farmer in the southeast whose tomatoes are rotting in the fields because changes in local administration of immigration laws scared all the Mexicans away. There is plenty of work for them with respectable employers.

I get it -- all those people just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. They had nothing better to do, so they decided, "what the (expletive deleted), I'll just make (expletive deleted) up." Sorta like why I have spent the past two years assiduously compiling evidence -- er, I mean, unverifiable stories. Because I have nothing better to do either. I just like to make (expletive deleted) up.

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Don't forget Bill Fisher -- he's deranged, too, although I believe he's only suffered from terminal derangement for a year or so.

There is that possibility, the converse possibility is that there were no strip searches performed ( no stones! Just pointing out a possible option). TSA printed what happened in one case, at least the basics, but I do not have details on the situation. The other two, I have no other info on them at all, simply the complaints in the public forum. I also agree that errors have been made with policy, but then again, I agree with some elements of policy that you guys probably wouldn't. I wish there were a way to communicate the process better to the public, but currently that would be disclosing SSI, and would get the person doing so in quite a bit of trouble - and possibly result in a revamping of the procedures to a point that it made the process worse for the passengers - and my ultimate goal is to make things as painless for the passengers as possible, while doing our best to keep WEI off of airplanes.

I hope that positive change can come to the organization for the passengers, and the workforce. If that means that reform must come, then lets get it underway and do so as efficiently as possible.

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It's possible, but wildly improbable. There's too much witness corroboration, plus a history of obfuscation in the case of the TSA which gives the agency less than zero credibilty. I'm sorry to state this so bluntly. I don't blame you for the TSA's top to bottom lying pandemic. It's not your fault, but it does make any statement from the TSA suspect.

I don't wish to be unkind. You're a nice fellow, but you work for a government agency that is deeply troubled. This voter and tax payer intends to see the TSA reformed. Enough is enough.

I wish there were a way to communicate the process better to the public, but currently that would be disclosing SSI, and would get the person doing so in quite a bit of trouble - and possibly result in a revamping of the procedures to a point that it made the process worse for the passengers - and my ultimate goal is to make things as painless for the passengers as possible, while doing our best to keep WEI off of airplanes.

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Dear god, just change your name and be done with it. Though it'll probably cause his creator to roll over in his grave, I'm sure he'd be happy to lend his effort to the cause. If he were around today, he'd be with us and against you 100%, though admittedly he'd be more eloquent about it than we can hope to be. But the jig is up. You've outed yourself by now anyway, O'Brien.

But he denies that other people have had experiences of which he doesn't have direct knowledge.

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I have never denied that bad things happen, to the contrary, when they do and I can confirm it, I am fairly uniform in my commentary. I know bad things happen, and I wish that they never did, but if they do, then there should be ramifications for those actions.

And, of course, more "unverifiable" stories -- only reported way back in 2004. But you don't have "personal knowledge," so how could they be true?

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This was before I even came to work at TSA. And again, I have never said that bad things don't happen, the closest I can come to that is saying that things of that nature are against SOP and should not happen.

This was before I even came to work at TSA. And again, I have never said that bad things don't happen, the closest I can come to that is saying that things of that nature are against SOP and should not happen.

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Do you think TSA is able to investigate its employees and policies fairly and without bias?

Do you think TSA is able to investigate its employees and policies fairly and without bias?

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I do (and I think that it is actually getting better as we move forward too). I hope that TSA expands the Professional Standards group to provide a better system for it though. I have seen stuff investigated before, and they tend to be a big to do. I hope that there are more investigations into allegations of abuse, wrongdoing or illegal activities, to help curb the things you see in the newsies. I want the organization to get to a point that most incidents are dealt with before they even make the news. I want the investigators to have some teeth and do what any internal affairs type of group is supposed to do, root out those that don't belong.

I do (and I think that it is actually getting better as we move forward too). I hope that TSA expands the Professional Standards group to provide a better system for it though. I have seen stuff investigated before, and they tend to be a big to do. I hope that there are more investigations into allegations of abuse, wrongdoing or illegal activities, to help curb the things you see in the newsies. I want the organization to get to a point that most incidents are dealt with before they even make the news. I want the investigators to have some teeth and do what any internal affairs type of group is supposed to do, root out those that don't belong.

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You say these things yet have no issue with wholesale censorship on the TSA Blog of which you're an operating member.

What part of "Government cannot censor speech" do you find disagreeable?

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In every case that I recall of some issue of TSA abuse against the public the immediate response from TSA has been "Proper Procedures Were Followed". Now if PPWF is the first response then I see no level of investigation taking place but just a bunch of CYA going on.

I don't have your confidence that TSA can be self investigating and evidence would suggest that TSA is more interested in not properly conducting an investigation.

When the automatic, immediate reaction, every flipping time, is "it didn't happen; we deny that it happened," then it's impossible to take seriously any claim that the TSA gives a (expletive deleted) or is interested in pursuing "professional standards" or whatever bureaucratic jargon you come up with.

And no, I'm not going back through the 54-page Master List to find every instance of this automatic denial being trotted out -- but there are so many that off the top of my head I can name: Jean Weber's mother (diaper), the three old women recently strip-searched, the 4-year-old boy with braces who was forced to crawl through the (expletive deleted) detector on his own without his parents allowed to help him, Yukari Miyamae's assailant, Andrea Abbott's, my friend Sommer's sexual assault.

I have seen stuff investigated before, and they tend to be a big to do.

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I'm assuming that, by this, you mean TSA internal affairs (or whatever the equivalent would be - Professional Standards group?) makes something of a showy production of their investigation.

To borrow from a book I've read and enjoyed several times:

American Gods said:

In prison Shadow had learned there were two kinds of fights: don't-(expletive deleted)-with-me fights, where you made it as showy and impressive as you could, and private fights, real fights, which were fast and hard and nasty, and always over in seconds.

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Though I may well be mistaken, I get the impression that TSA is concerned with people seeing, in 50-foot block letters, that they're Doing Something (TM) about The Problem(TM)(R)(C). The pomp and circumstance is in place of expending real effort on cutting away the cruft, finding out what, if any, policies were violated, and disciplining or terminating the problem employee. We seldom hear about TSA employees getting their pink slips, and those that do have committed crimes - they've already been investigated by real law-enforcement agencies, no need for TSA IA/PS to do anything about it.

It's like the Catholic Church covering up its crimes for years. Centuries. All the while, they told people they were "looking into it" -- that is, when they weren't outright denying it. Gee, what does that remind me of?